A pathway by which somatosensory information could reach the limbic structures in the temporal lobe known to be critical for tactile memory has now been delineated. To trace this pathway, the anatomical connections of electrophysiologically identified somatosensory fields lying in or near the lateral sulcus of the macaque monkey were investigated with both anterograde and retrograde axonal transport techniques. The data show that a series of parallel tactile processing pathways converge on the insular cortex; this region, in turn, projects directly to the amygdala and indirectly to the hippocampus via the rhinal cortex, thus linking the somatosensory cortices with the limbic structures of the temporal lobe. The functional relationships among the various somatic subfields are still unknown. In particular, the response properties of the neurons of the insula have not been studied in any detail and the role of corticocortical projections arising in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) is also unclear. Electrophysiological studies of these problems now in progress suggest that the posterior insula has neuronal properties characteristic of a higher-order somatic processing area. Further, the somatic fields in the lateral sulcus appear to be dependent on SI for their somatic input because neurons in these fields no longer respond to tactile stimulation following ablation of SI.